For those who visit Liquipedia, the top banner of the front page is relatively plain:
Even more plain-looking when compared to the other Liquipedia main pages:
Hearthstone:
DotA:
Hyralgambit suggested adding a graphic to the far left of the banner to 1) make it a little prettier and 2) be consistent with the other LPs, so I put together a few mock-ups with the Blizzard hydralisk wallpaper:
Update:Added Marine graphic
Update2:Added Zealot graphic -- In chatting with the LP staff, it's possible, technically, to alternate between the three graphics with each page load, but I don't know as far as aesthetics go...
I'd like to solicit feedback from the community on these ideas...
Poll: Which graphic for the LP banner do you prefer?
#1 Hydra zoomed in (124)
81%
#2 Hydra zoomed in, background cut (2)
1%
#3 Hydra zoomed out (21)
14%
#4 Hydra zoomed out, background cut (2)
1%
None of these, I'd like to propose an alternate (4)
3%
153 total votes
Your vote: Which graphic for the LP banner do you prefer?
(Vote): #1 Hydra zoomed in (Vote): #2 Hydra zoomed in, background cut (Vote): #3 Hydra zoomed out (Vote): #4 Hydra zoomed out, background cut (Vote): None of these, I'd like to propose an alternate
Update:Added Marine graphic -- please assume the border and Welcome text overlay will be implemented for Hydra, if that's selected instead
Update2:Added Zealot graphic
Poll: Marine, Hydra, Zealot or all three?
#5 Marine (12)
12%
#6 Zealot (3)
3%
Hydra (#1/#3 with adjustment) (6)
6%
All three, alternating (79)
79%
100 total votes
Your vote: Marine, Hydra, Zealot or all three?
(Vote): #5 Marine (Vote): #6 Zealot (Vote): Hydra (#1/#3 with adjustment) (Vote): All three, alternating
I just put these together watching a few Youtube videos on Photoshop and am far from an expert -- if anyone would like to lend their expertise, please let me know!
^^ Yep, we'd add a border all around the banner just like the other Liquipedias. My little mock-ups are not representative of the final product
Let's get some feedback over the next week or two and I'd be glad to revise/edit (the degree of zooming, etc). I'd like to get some consensus before formally bringing it to the LP admins for implementation
On October 28 2014 09:17 prech wrote: ^^ Yep, we'd add a border all around the banner just like the other Liquipedias. My little mock-ups are not representative of the final product
Let's get some feedback over the next week or two and I'd be glad to revise/edit (the degree of zooming, etc). I'd like to get some consensus before formally bringing it to the LP admins for implementation
Seems the "fading" width is a little too narrow compared to the Dota and Hearthstone fade zones.
Have you tried making the zoomed in picture slightly wider and moving the text slightly to the right?
On October 28 2014 11:45 Deathstar wrote: looks like hydralisk it is. he's aesthetic enough to be on the box cover. good enough to be on liquipedia banner then
voted #1 others have serious flaws.
Agreed.
We already chosen the hydralisk, why bother introducing a lame ass marine? ^^
Edit:
Something like this ratio from hydralisk to text area would be more proportional imo:
No matter which one you pick, definitely keep the background...
The Hydra is more badass than the marine, and just all kinds of more awesome... But then, right now I like how the Marine blends in much better (that planet in the background is nice)
I would suggest you try is that, no matter which one you shose, you do not actually fade out the hydra but only the background (i.e you keep the tail and arms/claws/whatever-they-are-called fully visible in the foreground.
Almost all Zergs, 1 Terran and no Protoss... Now everyone will spam the forum.. Just insert the cool title "StarCraft: Brood War" from the loading sreen.
On October 29 2014 03:01 nekotrap wrote: Also, concerning the strategy icons, I asked my friend to redraw higher res versions of the broodwar race icons, how are these?
Great! They certainly look better than the current ones, I hope they'll be there tomorrow if not today
I really like them, too...
I think Gecko might be working with Hyde for a new set of icons/logos? I don't seem him online on IRC at the moment to confirm...
But yea, changing those banners don't require any special technical access, just a matter of aesthetics/staying on-brand
On October 29 2014 03:47 nekotrap wrote: Ah yes, the original zealot icon was like that too. I got him to draw in some feet here
Awesome work by you and your friend, getting these race icons for the different tabs would be sweet.
@Hyral
The resolution of the originals is too bad for that size
What do you think about these?
look like shit in small and problems with copyright. maybe. not sure. something was against them, i suggested them somewhen.
I was wondering about that...
Anyway pr3ch, when can we expect the banner to be on Liquipedia? Why not put the Zerg one up first, so that people can see how it looks for real and add potential other ones later?
On October 29 2014 03:01 nekotrap wrote: Is it possible to make it so when you refresh it cycles through a banner of each race?
Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions -- Adding a Zealot graphic to the OP
In chatting with the LP staff, it's possible, technically, to alternate between the three graphics with each page load, but I don't know as far as aesthetics go...
On October 29 2014 01:32 c3rberUs wrote: How about if the Hydra is looking to the right:
Thanks for the suggestion. I think facing left may be preferable because the red/dark background on the right side of the flipped image contrasts too starkly with the blue background... whereas the original is blue-ish on the right side and fits a bit better
On October 29 2014 06:31 HyralGambit wrote: Anyway pr3ch, when can we expect the banner to be on Liquipedia? Why not put the Zerg one up first, so that people can see how it looks for real and add potential other ones later?
I'd like to give it a good week to gather opinions and build consensus. It'd give an opportunity to folks who don't visit the TL forums daily...plus a more convincing argument for the admins
On October 29 2014 03:01 nekotrap wrote: Also, concerning the strategy icons, I asked my friend to redraw higher res versions of the broodwar race icons, how are these?
Great! They certainly look better than the current ones, I hope they'll be there tomorrow if not today
I really like them, too...
I think Gecko might be working with Hyde for a new set of icons/logos? I don't seem him online on IRC at the moment to confirm...
But yea, changing those banners don't require any special technical access, just a matter of aesthetics/staying on-brand
Again: no. It was like this:
1. Someone asked why not to use Hyde's icons? 2. I asked Salle why we're not using them. Salle said: nobody asked Hyde yet 3. I asked Hyde. Hyde said "of course". Hyde also said "why not revamp the main page?" 4. I replied with: I do not know how to do it, I do not have time. 5. I sent Hyde to Salle. 6. Here ends my story.
Had my friend do a version for protoss + larger text and changing the planet in the bg from brown to blue
and a version of the hydra with the fade not affecting its arm
From the talks I've had with prech, it seems the admins have agreed to use the larger sized text when the banners are changed. Also, what do people think about how well the images blend with the light-blue banner background? Do you think there is too much contrast or is it fine? If not we've received a suggestion to crop out the image backgrounds and create something or use a design, which we could try I suppose (I personally like the planetary backgrounds that come with the image). There's also the possibility of doing something with the light-blue background instead.
Otherwise, if people like the protoss banner and we decide on which hydralisk version to use, we should have our 3 banners finalized.
That hydra looks frackin' awesome, like it's gonna jump out any second. Also fuck Protoss... Unless you want to rotate all three races, then it's ok ^^
On November 04 2014 15:35 nekotrap wrote: From the talks I've had with prech, it seems the admins have agreed to use the larger sized text when the banners are changed. Also, what do people think about how well the images blend with the light-blue banner background? Do you think there is too much contrast or is it fine? If not we've received a suggestion to crop out the image backgrounds and create something or use a design, which we could try I suppose (I personally like the planetary backgrounds that come with the image). There's also the possibility of doing something with the light-blue background instead.
Nice work
I think my simple gradients (because the left side's colors are just too dark) still contrast too much with the light-blue, while your friend's (very proportionately sized Hydra/Zlot heads ) are just faded a bit too much with some pretty color and detail being muted out.
I just contacted your friend, but I wonder if s/he could do something creative with the background against the cropped image so we can get a nicer transition into the blue background while retaining the detail of the Hydra/Zealot... If only as a mock-up to see what we it looks like. Basically like the Dota2 design where the character is fully retained against a background that clashes less with the rest of the banner, but at the same time it doesn't look bare/naked like my #2/#4 Hydras because it has a really nice flame and deep red that is of the same color palette as the light red banner...
On November 04 2014 19:44 nekotrap wrote: The person you emailed was me btw lol but thanks I've forwarded the message to him.
With the dota banner, assuming this was the original image: + Show Spoiler +
All they seemed to have done is flip it and created a fade gradient: + Show Spoiler +
The flames already being part of the original image.
Oh btw, the marine we did for strategy seemed kinda bulky in comparion to the others so I did a little resizing for it. Maybe this would work better.
Thanks, the Terran strategy banner is now live. Looks nice, Marine without the steroids
Yea, I wish we had as easy to blend images, or as clean, as the Dota2 Lina image I wonder if the Dota team purposely chose that pastel pink/light red in the banner to work with their graphic, whereas we mostly have to work with our blue/blue-gray color palette.
Then again, I really, really like the BW page's largely consistent blue hues, especially compared to Dota2's seemingly random mix of colors: grays on the left sidebar with gray-blue header "underlining", gray title header bars, white text background, etc. I can see why ours hasn't changed significantly for years
I reached out to our graphics team and Meru came to the rescue with this:
Basically the unit itself is in full detail, but a gradient is created only onto the background. The benefit of this is the hydra/marine/zealot is in full color, but without cropping out the background completely. I've been playing around with Meru's Photoshop file to ensure the background isn't completely removed, else, as many others have said, the units just look "naked"
Sorry been busy with exams. These look great though. If you want prech you can send the pdf and we can play around with the background a bit and see what else we can do, but might not be able to do much until next week.
Thanks for the input, all. Yea the text is a bit off
I agree, Hydralisk may look bit better facing left with the blue background, but seeing how the Marine is facing right, and the characters on the other LP pages (Heroes, Dota, SC2) face right, salle (Liquipedia boss) recommended the Hydra face right also
I'll forward on the Photoshop file to nekotrap... Next week's great
On March 07 2015 04:48 prech wrote: Main Page banner updated, at long last, with the hydra/zealot/marine graphic
Many thanks to Meru for the graphics work and FO-nTTaX for the implementation
On my tablet the banner is cut in half
Yea, stinks... for the time being LP-SC2 is the only LP wiki working decently well on a tablet. Banners/main page are similarly broken on LP-BW, Dota, Hearthstone.
The LP team and R1CH are slowly implementing more mobile/tablet improvements to make them more functional, accommodating the increasing number of mobile users